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Yesterday i received my new i7 macbook pro and they say that it switches automatically between the Intel HD graphics and the discrete nVidia Geforce GT 330M, it did switch automatically when i first used it, but now its only using the discrete graphics chip even when I definitely don't need it. This is drastically reducing my battery life and is therefore very annoying.
Is there anything i can do to make it switch back??

I think the automatic switching is determined by certain programs' requirements as Apple sees it. If you have programs which call on graphic libs constantly open (even if they aren't in use or in focus) the discrete card should remain on.

Ie. Photoshop - quit out of it when you're not using it - and other programs as such.

Others have reported similar problems about the auto switching. Hopefully Apple will release and update to fix the problem.

Instead of the auto graphics switching I would have preferred the current manual switching but minus the need to log out and in to switch graphics cards. Even better yet it would have been nice to have both the option to use auto and manual switching modes. Currently the manual mode is to switch to the faster discrete card full time only.

Since computers still don't have the best artificial intelligence, I've noticed some auto features in many electronics don't really work as well as they are advertised. A manual override mode is nice in case it is needed like in this instance.

thanks guys,
yeh i think they should release an update soon, they claim 8-9 hours battery, i got 5, i was using pages, safari, when i opened keynote the comuper swtched to the discrete card, when in skype the discrete card is used aswell. i think its rediculous, on my mac mini with the intel GMA 950 (64mb Vram) keynote and skype were fine, kinda weird that apparently i need to use a 512mb GPU cuz a 288mb wont do it, lol, an Update is so badly required,

ill have to live with it for now, i think they should keep the auto switching, but if you want to an option just to use the intel HD. Oh well, itl be a while till they realease an update, Thanks guys.

Don't sell the Intel HD graphics short. It's a vast improvement over anything Intel has offered in the past. And, it holds its own for graphics intensive games. See the following LINK for some surprising benchmarks.

i was being sarcastic when saying the intel HD wont do it, if you didnt catch that. the intel HD is a good GPu no doubt, i was just saying that there is no need for the discrete graphics when in skype or keynote, i think it should just use it when in photoshop, and other graphics intensive applications

The upcoming update to Snow Leopard includes graphics enhancements. I don't know if that means Apple is going to do something about the auto switching being more "intelligent" for the new i5 and i7 machines, but I'm sure they're aware of the problem. We'll just have to wait and see.

no man, a MacBook Pro software update, not a whole computer update. like 2 days after the i5/i7's came out, they released a MacBook Pro software update, but fixing different issues, thats what i meant with macbook pro update